Chapter 17 #2
“For her.” Emmett chuckles. “I’ve been obsessed with this woman for five years.”
My cheeks blush as Aiden chuckles. “I know the feeling.” And now I’m on fire.
I can’t believe Aiden has been searching for me for so long. Both he and his brother were looking for Silva and me. I guess this scent-match-bond thing really is powerful if you can feel the pull toward someone from just a photo.
Aiden smiles at me softly, and damn it, my heart goes crazy. He really is good looking.
“Why did it take so long for the two of you to get together?” Aiden asks.
“We were best friends first. Hit it off from the start.” Emmett grins at me. “But Lexi is older than me. She saw me as a teenager rather than a man who could give her everything she needed.”
“Hey! I did not.” I glare at him.
“It’s okay.” He winks. “I knew I had to prove myself to her. And I hope I have.”
“He’s full of shit. I saw him as a best friend because I was closed off to love.
My past fucked with my head, and I wasn’t looking for anyone in that way.
He was what I needed him to be, when I needed it.
A best friend at first. As time went on, I started seeing him in a new way.
Eventually, I pulled my head out of my ass, told him how I felt, and the rest is history.
” I say all of this while looking down at my plate.
“Younger? How young?” Sloane asks.
“Lexi is thirty-one. I’m twenty-five.”
“Shit, Aiden. We’re robbing the cradle,” Sloane groans. “What would my mother think?”
“Nothing, because she’s dead,” Aiden snorts.
“Right.” Sloane grins. “So, older lady, huh?” Sloane chuckles. “Nice. I got me an older man, too.”
“You’re thirty-five, I’m thirty-six. I don’t think a year's difference counts as an age gap.”
“No, but it does when you act like a fifty-year-old man who spends his time talking to the birds in the park.”
“Oh, fuck off. I do not.” Aiden shoves at him, making Sloane laugh.
“So how did you two meet? How long have you been together?”
“It’s been, what, ten years now?” Sloane asks Aiden, and Aiden nods.
“He was in Savannah, Georgia, where I’m from, on a case with his brother.
He came into the bar where I’d go every day after work.
I was working as an investigator at the time.
Anyway, he came in for a drink. I thought he was the hottest man I’ve ever seen.
I flirted, we had a one-night stand, and the next morning we exchanged numbers.
After he told me what he did for a living, I think I lasted, what?
Another month at my job before I quit and went to work for you and your brother? ”
Aiden smiles softly, shaking his head. “I knew the moment I laid eyes on him that he was a forever kind of person. He’s kept me on my toes. Never a dull moment with him.”
“How about you two?” Sloane asks, pointing between Emmett and me.
“I was living in Utah before I came to Widows Peak. I came here at nineteen, in need of a fresh start. I heard about a town that was a safe haven for Omegas, and it was my last chance to start over. Thankfully, it wasn’t a dream.
Not even ten minutes after arriving here, I was brought to the club Lexi owns with her sister and their friends.
The moment I looked at Lexi, I was head over heels for her.
” Emmett smiles over at me, and my stomach flutters.
“I never dreamed that a girl like her would ever see me as anything more than some young dumb kid. That didn’t stop me from becoming her best friend, though.
We hit it off, and five years later, here we are. ”
“What made you change your mind?” Aiden asks me. “From being friends to something more?”
Now we are getting into the personal things. Normally, I’d tell someone it’s not their business. I don’t know them, don’t trust them.
Yet as I sit here with them, I find myself wanting to spill all my life secrets while we’re cuddled on the couch like one big happy pack.
I rub at my chest, hating these new feelings because they conflict with what I believed for years.
I’m not comfortable spilling all my secrets. We are nowhere near close enough for that. But I can give them something.
“Because of my past, I don’t like Alphas.
That much you already know. Considering I don’t like Alphas, I didn’t want to be around them.
I was taking heat suppressants for the past ten years.
Being on them for so long was affecting my health, so I stopped taking them.
My heat kicked in a few days later, and Emmett was kind enough to help me.
We talked after it was over, and then we made things official. ”
I smile at Emmett, a warm, fuzzy feeling taking over.
“Best friends to lovers. I like it. Must have been a big change,” Sloane comments.
“Not really,” Emmett says. “Everything was pretty much the same. We were already very close as it was.”
“But now you get to have sex.” Sloane grins. “The best part.”
“No, it’s not,” I argue, and all three men stare at me. “Don’t get me wrong, the sex is fucking phenomenal. But it’s not the best part of being with him. He is. I could go my whole life without sex, I have until just a few months ago. But I couldn’t see going my whole life without Emmett.”
“Fuck,” Sloane whispers. “That’s sweet as shit.”
Emmett pulls me into his lap, wraps his arms around me, and kisses the side of my head. “I feel the same way, Peaches.”
“What about you?” Sloane asks Emmett. “Do you have a hate for Alphas like Lexi?”
“I do.” Emmett nods.
Aiden sighs. “What can we do to change that?”
Emmett looks at me, then speaks. “Time. Don’t expect anything, and don’t force anything. Let things happen naturally. Our traumas are different. She has her reasons, I have mine.”
“And yours are?” Sloane asks.
“Sloane!” Aiden hisses.
“Sorry.” Sloane raises his hands. “I’m pushing. My bad.”
“No, it’s okay,” Emmett says. “I don’t mind talking about it. I grew up in foster care. Didn’t have much. When I aged out, I didn’t have many options. I was a high school dropout, male Omega. And what is the fastest way to get money?”
“Sex,” Aiden growls out.
Emmett nods. “I got a job at a strip club. At first, it wasn’t all that bad, and it paid well.
After a month in, I realized the owner was a piece of shit.
He didn’t care about the people who worked for him, only the money.
He pretty much pimped us out to anyone. Didn’t matter how cruel or abusive they were.
If they paid, we had to do what they wanted.
I lasted a year there before I couldn't take it anymore. I heard about Widows Peak, and I stayed but long enough to save just what I needed to escape. When I say this place was my last chance, I meant it. Lexi and this town saved my life. If it didn’t exist, I wouldn’t either. ”
“Emmett.” I bury my face into his neck, trying not to cry. I know all of this, and it killed me when he told me. That moment is when I realized this man was always meant to be in my life. It wasn’t until years later that I found out exactly how.
The table goes quiet for a while until Aiden speaks.
“We’re glad you’re here. Both of you. I know this must come as a big shock, and change can be scary, but we want you to know we would never push or force this on you.
In the end, if you truly feel like this isn’t what you want, while it won’t be easy, we would leave.
Just because we’re scent matches doesn’t mean we want your choice taken from you. ”
If they keep talking, I’m going to start getting suspicious.
It’s starting to sound like they’re too good to be true.
They’re perfect, but also not. They’re saying all the right things and maybe I’m blinded by the bond, or maybe it’s that deep down I want to believe it.
But I do trust what they’re saying. It terrifies me because maybe I’m not so closed off to having the pack life as I made myself believe.
Maybe that was just me trying to protect myself from getting hurt. Not that I’m saying Emmett wouldn’t be enough, he would be.
But things have changed, and now I have to start seeing things from a new perspective.
“If we’re being honest, I wanna be open,” Sloane states, and Aiden groans.
“Please don’t,” Aiden pleads.
“Look, I want it all out on the table so no one is taken by surprise, okay?” Sloane says.
“I like when someone is upfront.” I lay my head against Emmett’s chest, the two Alpha’s scents filling the air around me, mixing with Emmett’s, providing a very relaxing atmosphere. I could almost fall back asleep. “So, go on. Let’s hear it.”
“I want you,” Sloane says, leaning back in his chair, crossing his arms. “I want you as my Omega.” He turns his attention to Emmett.
“And you. I want you too. I like you both. You’re hot.
” I snort, and Emmett chuckles. “But there’s also something about the two of you that just pulls me in.
I want to be your Alpha, to spoil you, treat you like a king and queen.
If anyone tries to hurt you, I’d kill them.
You wouldn’t want for anything in life. We have more money than you can imagine.
How we got it? That's another story.” He winks.
“If you want to stay in Widows Peak, I guess this is our new home. You are in charge, not us. I’ll get on my knees and kiss your damn feet if you want me to. You own us. Not the other way around.”
My lips part in shock. Is this man for real, or are my ears playing tricks on me?